Wildfire season is in full swing. And due to Texas’ ongoing drought, the state remains at exceptional risk for wildfires.

Wildfires spring up quickly and spread unexpectedly – making real-time information important. Twitter is an important resource for wildfire updates. And Facebook is an information clearinghouse for area residents in times of disaster.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has given Texas $31.2 million to help cover the costs of the devastating wildfires that spread across the state in 2011. The money will go to help the recovery in Bastrop and at least nine other wildfires during that year.

FEMA says the funding covers about 75 percent of the overall costs including materials, equipment, meals, air support and logging.

The Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center made another delivery this week of 4,000 drought-resistant loblolly pine saplings to Bastrop County. Bastrop’s pine forests were ravaged by a wildfire in 2011 that destroyed 32,000 acres. This was the third delivery for the Wildflower Center, bringing to about 15,000 the number of saplings they've contributed for reforestation.

Vlad Codrea, a graduate research assistant at UT, is overseeing the project at the tree nursery at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. From 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. on Thursday, the Campus Environmental Center will extract the tree seedlings from their containers and package them to be sent to Bastrop.

Codrea said the project actually began in March 2011, before the Bastrop fires, when he first asked for funding for a tree nursery from UT's Green Fee Committee. The Committee reviews environmental projects pitched by UT students and awards grant money so the students can complete these projects. Codrea was awarded a $54,198 grant over four years.

Fri January 25, 2013

A popular campground in Bastrop that was devastated by the Labor Day wildfires in 2011 will be reforested with the help of Boy Scouts. Almost half of the 5,000-acre Griffith League Scout Ranch was destroyed by flames.

The Scouts will team up with the Texas A&M Forest Service to plant about 300,000 loblolly pine seedlings over the next two years.

The app gives users instant access to a so-called “blaze tracker” that issues alerts when conditions are favorable for wildfires and when a wildfire has begun within 100 miles of any location designated by the user. Users can also monitor multiple locations to keep up-to-date with what might be happening in a region susceptible to wildfires where friends or family live.

"A lot of information about wildfires is really hard to get and to take in. Wildfires are big, covering hundreds of acres, and also really fast-moving... [This app] actually even allows you to see the path of a fire, where its perimeter is, and what's happening. And that really makes the information about these big fires a little easier to digest," Sara Kennedy, Director of Communications for American Red Cross Central Texas Region, says.

“Definitely that is one of the drawbacks of federal funding is that it takes a long time to get down to the people and so the state didn’t have that available to them until just a few weeks ago to even put this application out. And so some people, when a year has passed, they’ve found other ways to recover on their own because they just can’t wait," says Katy Sellers, the land office's Liaison Manager for Disaster.

Hurricane Isaac will probably stay too far east to bring rain to Central Texas, but forecasters believe it will bring windy weather which will then make way for higher temperatures.

Hot, dry and breezy weather is the same combination that we had last Labor Day weekend before the devastating wildfires. But Lower Colorado River Authority Chief Meteorologist Bob Rose says things aren’t quite the same.

"We’re not looking at as extreme of critical fire weather conditions as we had last Labor Day weekend," Rose says. "Fortunately this summer we’ve had periods of rain from time to time, we have a little bit greener vegetation and the ground has a little more moisture in it. So the conditions going into this weekend are already not nearly like what they were last year."

Earlier this month, DPS troopers and civilian inspectors joined forces to make the roads safer in Texas. Inspecting more than 8,000 commercial vehicles, over a three-day period, the department issued thousands of citations and removed 1,763 vehicles and 243 drivers from the roads, according to a statement issued yesterday.

The program checks 18-wheelers, buses, and other commercial vehicles for things like unsafe brakes and tires. Drivers’ logs, driving time limits and licenses are also inspected.

Wildfires

3:33 pm

Thu January 5, 2012

As the deadline to apply for federal wildfire disaster aid approaches, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is sharing some statistics that underscore the fires’ impact: The disbursement of some $36 million in wildfire aid, including $13.2 million in grants, and $19 million in low-interest “disaster loans.” And the agency is urging anyone who hasn’t yet filed a claim to do so before Friday.

FEMA public information officer Bob Howard says the agency’s grants have gone to different needs: $10.7 million to rental assistance and grants to rebuild homes, and $2.5 million to cover lost personal property, medical care, and even funeral expenses.

The Travis County Office of Emergency Management released an after-action report on the Labor Day weekend fires. Travis County's emergency management coordinator, Pete Baldwin, says given the number of fires and the resources that were allocated, firefighters did an adequate job.

“We had six major fires burning that one day, that Sunday, and we had fires all around us. Bastrop was burning, Williamson County, Burnet County were all running fires," Baldwin told KUT News. "If we had had access to state resources, such as air assets or ground assets, we could have done a much better job. But all of those assets were tied up on other fires throughout Texas that day.”

Travis County's Office of Emergency Management has released a report outlining what went right--and what didn't--in the response to the Labor Day weekend fires. Travis County had six large fires on September 4th, including the Steiner Ranch and Pedernales fires. 57 homes were destroyed and the fires burned about 7,000 acres. The report praised responders for doing their best with the local resources at hand. The report says state and federal resources were not available because of all of the other wildfires burning across the state.

The report laid out several communication failures. It says more public information officers were needed to get accurate information out to residents more quickly. The report even cited a "rumor mill at the shelter due to lack of information and conflicting media reports." It also suggested more social media networks need to be created to get out information to the public.

Central TX Wildfires

1:58 pm

Thu November 10, 2011

FEMA's Transitional Sheltering Assistance program, which puts victims of Texas wildfires in hotels while they search for more permanent housing, is coming to an end.

The program will officially end on December 9th in the six counties designated for assistance. Those counties include Bastrop and Travis counties in Central Texas, Cass and Marion in East Texas and Montgomery and Waller counties in the Houston area.

"We feel confident that we can transition those families that are still living in hotels and motels into a more permanent situation," says Ray Perez, a FEMA public information officer speaking to KUT News from Bastrop.

Mon October 17, 2011

The Electric Utility Commission of Austin will meet this evening at six to discuss Austin Energy’s proposed rate hikes from August. Members of the public are invited to speak at tonight’s meeting. The event will be held at Town Lake Center on Barton Springs Road. There will be an additional special-called meeting this Thursday. Read KUT's report on the proposed rate changes.

News Brief

7:49 am

Wed September 28, 2011

The Texas Forest Service says the brush fire near Reimer’s Ranch in western Travis County is now 75 percent contained. The fire has burned more than 200 acres. Officials say it destroyed two park structures and about 8 structures from the movie set for the 2003 film “The Alamo. ”